Blog Post: The head(er) on the body of your résumé

When you look at someone’s face, the first thing you usually notice is the eyes…and on your header, this is your name. If you notice something other than the name first, your header is out of proportion. (This would be like a woman wearing deep red lipstick and no other makeup…you’d probably notice the lips first and wonder why she had done it that way.)

I use a fairly large size font for the person’s name, because, on a résumé, the name is the most important thing…what I want the hiring manager to remember. If my résumé is in a stack with a bunch of other résumés, I want to make sure it isn’t too hard to fine mine.

My second line contains the traditional mailing address information, although, if you are posting your résumé online, you may want to omit this for security reasons. A physical street address is usually preferable to a P.O. Box—there can be a stigma attached to having a P.O. Box—the assumption that the individual may not have a permanent physical residence. On the other hand, having a P.O. Box does increase personal anonymity and safety, so it may be worth consideration.

My third line contains any contact information: e-mail address, website, home phone number, cell phone number, fax number, and/or LinkedIn profile. You want to make it as easy as possible for the hiring manager to contact you.

The header is the most common place to miss errors since you tend to see what you think is there rather than what is actually there. I’ve had more than one résumé client neglect to tell me of a changed phone number, physical address, or e-mail address. That sort of error can make your résumé useless, and it’s not the sort of error anyone else may notice. So proofread your header carefully.

I have received a number of résumés where the individual aligned different parts of their header with the left and right margins. Reading the information created the feeling of “bouncing.” With this format, a hiring manager, wanting to contact you by phone, would have to read one side of the page, then the other, looking for the desired information. I imagine this could create a little subliminal irritation. So, to keep it easy, I usually center the whole thing (the head is centered over the body—not off to one side, or split in two.)

Studies have shown people like things better they are familiar with…so I take the design of the header back to the basics.